11. SUCCESS!

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. It was the time of countless late nights and cups of cheap coffee, and countless hours (well, substantially fewer) throwing paper airplanes and making office chair trains. It was a time of delirious excitement for our futures, and of stomach-rending dread for our futures. For anyone who's worked their ass off for a dream, you know exactly what I mean.

I joked with some people that my film was actually a metaphor for the process of making it: you set out with an idea, you fall, you hit bottom, you almost give up, and then you keep going because you have no other choice, until you reach your destination. It might not be the perfect destination, but the actual success is that you reached it at all.

Am I happy with what I made? Well, I don't think anyone who's made anything is ever really, completely happy with what they've made, because nothing is ever finished. What I can say is that I'm happy with what I learned, because I was doing things I had no idea I could do a mere eight months prior. And I think, for a first attempt, it's not bad. This is just the beginning of what I can do, and I look forward - with all honesty - to the sleepless nights and cheap coffee to come, in service of stepping a little closer to that dream.

Thanks for taking a look at a small slice of something I spent my life on for a little while, and if you like, you can watch the final result here!